Typically, conventional front-end loaders for construction machinery such as wheel loaders and agricultural tractor loaders may be articulated by a hydraulic system. Loaders may be added to existing tractors or may be the principal implement of a track driven or wheel loader. Typically, loaders include a large bucket to scoop material such as coal, dirt, and stone and load the material into a trailer or dump truck. Some loaders may also be used to dig holes.
Most loader hydraulic systems include a hydraulic pump and at least one hydraulic cylinder adapted to articulate a loader boom and/or a bucket. An operator may use any of a plurality of controls located in a cab of the machinery or elsewhere to control the hydraulic system to articulate loader boom and bucket assembly. Some common features of the control system for the boom and bucket assembly include raising and lowering the boom and rotating the bucket fore and aft to load or dump the bucket. Another common feature of the control system is a float feature. The float feature allows the bucket to “float” on the ground for backgrading or leveling operations, for example leveling a gravel-based parking lot. When the bucket is floated, only the weight of the boom and bucket assembly is applied to the ground. This allows the bucket to float over the material being leveled and create a smooth, even leveled area free of large depressions or bumps.